Look out for the <>!
And the amazing photo was made by annabethgranger666

Two days later I woke up as pain radiated through my body. I covered my mouth, hoping that no one would hear my whimpering. Tears welled up into my eyes as I wished the pain to fade. I curled up into a ball as I wiped a sheen of sweat from my forehead. I was burning up.

Minutes ticked by until the pain disappeared. And once again I felt like myself. I frowned as I looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath in and out. This wasn't the first time I woke up in pain. But it was coming more often. In the space of two weeks, I had experienced it three different times.

I was terrified about this new symptom. But I was also terrified to address it to anyone, so instead, I stayed silent. I pushed myself off of the bed and it felt like the world was tilted to the side. I instantly stumbled back onto the bed. I was so glad I was not planning to skate today.

I looked at my phone and saw that it was 7 AM. The sun hadn't even risen yet. But the pain woke me up and I knew I would not be able to sleep again this morning. Quietly, I slipped on some slippers and shuffled myself out of my bedroom. I hugged the wall as I walked down the stairs since my balance not coming to me.

My feet touched the wooden floor of the ground floor and I sighed in relief, knowing I didn't need as much balance to go to the kitchen for some water.

I made it to the kitchen and plopped myself on a barstool and rested my head against the marble counter top. The cool marble felt so nice against my hot skin. I think I felt more terrible now then when I was in bed. Maybe doctor Well's was right, I was pushing it too hard.

"Hey, El, is that you?" Jaimie asked from behind me.

I quickly tried to regain myself and turned to face him with a smile. It had been a while since I had heard his voice. It was no secret that since I got diagnosed, he had been a ghost that roamed the house only appearing at the corner of my eyes or when I slept. I honestly thought he wouldn't talk to me again so hearing his voice was a pleasant surprise. "Hi Jaimie. I didn't think anyone would be up this early," I said to him.

He nodded as he looked at me. He knew something was wrong. He could read me like a book. "Are you running a fever?"

"I think I am," I said, giving up any hope to cover my lie.

He gave a tired sigh as he walked into the kitchen. "We need to get some medication in you." He said and opened a white cabinet and pulled out two little red pills for me to take. He poured a glass of orange juice then gave it to me. "Here you go."

"Thank you," I said and downed the two pills with one drink.

Jaimie sat down next to me and put his hand over my forehead. I shrunk under his touch and moved my head away. As much as I wanted him back, I was hesitant, fearing that he would only turn into a ghost again. 

He dropped his hand then mumbled a sorry. Sadly, this was more contact than we had in a while. "I miss you," I said to him.

"It's been a little too hard to be around you recently," he said with a frown.

I didn't like his honesty. It stung like a slap to the face.

"You're running yourself into the ground," he said and stood up from the chair, spitting out the words like they were poison. He looked out the window and watched the snowfall outside. "I think I'm going to get breakfast, want to come?" he asked.

As afraid as I was that he would leave again, I craved his company again. I just wanted Jaimie, my brother back again. "Of course," I said even though I wasn't hungry.

"Come on then."

I looked at my leggings and an oversized sweater, knowing that I did not look good enough to go out.

"You look good enough for a Sunday breakfast." 

I smiled lightly as I got off the chair. My vision cut out slightly and before I knew it, I was hitting my head against the wall. I felt the sting on my forehead as I hung onto the wall for a second. "I'm ok," I said to Jaimie before he had time to speak out.

He was silent and as I turned to face him, he looked terrified. Not knowing what to do, he stayed frozen like a statute then finally he grabbed his shoes without saying anything. I followed him to the front door then slipped on my ugg boots and my puffer coat. I then followed him out the door to the car.

He turned the car off and sped off as if he wanted this to end as soon as it started. He was regretting inviting me, I could feel it as silence engulfed the car. There was an awkward tension in the air that I couldn't place where it came from. Jaimie finally pulled into the parking lot of Waffle love and sighed.

He looked at me and instantly I read his eyes. He made a mistake. He didn't want to take me here. I shifted in my seat. He wasn't the only one that made a mistake coming here.

"Ready?" he asked as he opened the door.

Ready to get this over with, yes. I nodded as I got out of the car and followed him into the restaurant in silence.

We sat down at a table and looked at the menu that was placed in front of us. In the past, Jaimie and I used to come here once a month for years. It was tradition but we hadn't gone in far too long.

As we waited for the food to come out, Jaimie dove into details about his life that I didn't know. He talked about school and tests. But most importantly, he talked about college and his plans for the future.

<>

"You know, I made it to UCLA for pre-med," Jaimie said. His statement sounded a little too forced and awkward. He talked to me like I was a stranger.

I forced a smile at him. I was at least happy with some conversation, regardless of how awkward it was. "Good job Jaimie! I never thought you were interested in medicine," I said as I thought about how he wanted to study engineering.

"I wasn't," he said simply as he drank his water.

I was silent. He changed because of me. He always wanted to be an engineer, and now he was willing to change his dreams. Medicine wasn't his true passion, he was wrong to pick it. I shouldn't be the one to change his ideas. I instantly felt like a terrible sister. Maybe it was a good thing he was keeping his distance from me.

Breaking us from our awkward silence was our food that arrived hot on a plate, ready to be eaten.

"Mom and dad said that you are pushing them to skate more," he said as he looked at his eggs and toast.

I nodded. Of course, I was pushing them, if I didn't, they wouldn't do anything. Nationals was just around the corner. I needed to work twice as hard as anyone else but no one seemed to get that.

"It's taking a toll on you."

I shot him a look. Now it was making sense why he talked to me this morning. I was sure mom and dad put this up to him. They were now using Jaimie against me. They knew I couldn't say no to him. This was all planned.

Not taking the clue that I wanted him to drop the topic, he continued, "I think you should stop and give yourself a chance to recover before it's too late."

Jaimie didn't want to hang out with me. This was all because of our parents. I pushed the plate of food away from me. I suddenly lost the mood for faking my hunger. He had no right to tell me what to do. "Mom and dad put you up to this."

He shook his head as if I got it all wrong. "No."

I was sure he was lying. Tension filled the table as I shot daggers at him with my eyes. He hadn't spoken to me in weeks and he just goes to tell me this? No, I wasn't going to let him. "Then knock it off. You don't know what is good for me, honestly, no one does."

He was silent as he chewed on my words for a second. "But that's what you need, and outside pair of eyes, someone that isn't mom and dad. They told me that you don't want to take any time off after your surgery."

I shook my head. This was why he wanted to take me out in the first place. Since I was here, I couldn't walk away like I did with most conversations I didn't like. He didn't want to bond like we used to. He just wanted to boss me around just like everyone else in the family. Anger flared up in me like a firework. "Jaimie, I am warning you. Stop," I said to him sternly.

He frowned at me in silence. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it, knowing he messed up his chance. He picked up his fork and poked his eggs. I watched Jaimie pick at his meal in silence. Looks like he lost his appetite too. The way he chewed on his food, it was as if he regretted every bite he took.

Breaking me from staring at Jaimie was a buzz to my phone. I pulled it out to see a text from Callum. I smiled lightly. He wanted to hang out. I quickly asked him if he would be willing to pick me up at Waffle love. Within a second, he responded yes. I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that I didn't have to ride in a car with Jaimie back home.

I looked at my food and decided to take a bite. The Nutella filled Waffle was sweet and it seemed to warm my body instantly. Maybe I was hungry. I took another bite then another. Before I knew it, half of the waffle was gone.

"Hi. um, I interrupting something?" Callum's voice rang out.

I looked up at him. He looked slightly uncomfortable as he stood next to the table. He thought Jaimie hated him as much as Paulo did, but I didn't think so. Jaimie had never said anything negative about Callum where as Paulo reminded me everyday that dating Callum was a mistake.

Did Callum actually think I was eating alone? I smiled at him. "You came just in time. Come and join us," I said brightly.

He nodded and slid into the booth right beside me.

There was silence as we looked at each other. Finally, Jaimie spoke up, "Hi Callum."

Callum nodded as he wrapped his arm around me. "Hello," he said rather stiffly.

Jaimie cleared his throat. He didn't know what to say but I could tell he was trying so hard to come up with something. Unlike Garret, he actually wanted to talk to Callum for reasons why I didn't understand. "There's a lot of breakfast places in this town. Have you been here before?"

Callum shook his head. "No, never. I normally don't have a person to join me for breakfast."

Jaimie smiled at him. "Well, you have, El, now," he said as he pulled the sleeves to his black sweater up.

I felt my cheeks grow red. Jaimie was flirting for me. I don't think I had ever seen Jaimie flirt before let alone for someone else. This conversation was not what I thought it would become. It was as if Jaimie wanted us to be together. It made me think that Jaimie might even like Callum. I wonder why my two brothers could have wildly different ideas of the same person.

Callum smiled as brought me closer to him. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Jaimie nodded as he took another bite of his breakfast. "I think El is done, you probably could eat hers." He said and pushed my plate of half-eaten food towards him.

Callum looked at me as if I was ok with it. I nodded. I was full. With that, he took the plate and took a bite of the waffle.

"I heard your music a few days ago. It popped up on my SoundCloud account. It's amazing. Have you ever thought about sending your stuff to a record label?" Jaimie asked, trying to make conversation.

Callum shook his head. "Nah. For right now, we're happy being local."

Jaimie smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "You should know by now, that our family doesn't do anything small. You're dating El, she'll push you to shoot for the stars, stars that you didn't even know existed. We aren't very good a giving up," he chuckled.

"I'm starting to understand that."

I chuckled. It was the truth. None of us were good at underachieving.

Jaimie smiled then sighed. "Well, I'm not going to be a third wheel any longer. Callum, you'll take her home, won't you?"

"Of course."

"Ok, see you two later," Jaimie said and stood up from the table. "Don't worry about the bill, I'll cover it."

"Thank you, Jaimie," I said softly. Almost instantly, I forgave him for the breakfast fight we had.

Jaimie nodded then left us alone at the small laminated table.

"I think Jaimie likes you," I stated as Jaimie left the restaurant.

"That's refreshing because Paulo hates me," Callum pouted.

I hated that fact as much as Paulo hated Callum. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged as he took the last bite of my leftovers. "You can't control him. So, want to get out of here?"

"What did you have in mind?" I smiled, eager to go on an adventure.

"My niece's indoor soccer game."

"Let's go."

He got up from his seat and smiled. I could see mischief in his eyes. "Race you to the car?"

I nodded, "you're on." We ran out of the restaurant. He was in the lead but by the end, I ran faster to catch up to Callum. I smiled as I touched his silver range rover first.

He touched the car then smiled. "I didn't think you would catch up to me."

"You underestimate me," I said as I ran my hand through his slicked-back hair, teasing him.

"I'm afraid I do that a little too much," he said then he kissed me. He pushed me lightly against the car as he deepened the kiss, that was until his phone buzzed.

I pulled out of the kiss with a frown. By now I knew that every time his phone buzzed it meant our time was over. For whatever reason whoever texted him always meant he had to leave. "Don't answer it," I whined as I intertwined my hands with his.

He bit his lip as he thought about what to do. He didn't want to answer it but he had some kind of duty to it. "I have to."

I pulled him closer to me and kissed him again, hoping that would distract him enough to forget about it.

He kissed me back but quickly pull out. He checked his phone. "I have to go."

I knew it. Before he ran off to meet this mystery texter, I had to tell him about my plans for the next week. "Ok. So Christmas is next week."

He nodded with a smile. "I know, you seem to remind me every day."

I chuckled. "It's my favorite holiday."

He smiled at me. "I love that. I love that every time Christmas is brought up your eyes glitter with excitement. You kept your childhood love for the holiday and I love that."

"Don't you have a holiday you love?"

He shook his head. "No, when mom died. I kind of lost that love for much of anything."

My smile slowly fell off my face. "I will help you find love again," I said, realizing that might have sounded a little too cryptic. "I mean, with the holidays," I corrected myself.

He chuckled. "You're already doing that."

I beamed. "Good."